High night time electric consumption?

nellywelly

Hi

Hoping that someone on the forum may have experienced the same issue or can shed some light on this...

My parents received their electric bill, which was doubled from the previous quarter, they were expecting some increase due to prices rises (EON) but not double! Therefore we decided to investigate...

According to the bill in the last quarter they used 1930kwh normally this figure from previous bills is around usually 930 to (at it's very highest before they started switching everything off at night and using energy saving light bulbs) 1300. We've had nothing new in the house and habits our usage patterns are essentially the same. We couldn't quite work out where the jump from using approx an average 9-12kw per day to 20kw per day has arisen.

At first we thought it may have been the thermostat on the immersion, yes the thermostat had gone so we've had it replaced however it was always on a timer anyway so was never on for more that 1.5hrs max each day, but thought this may have solved the problem.

We have decided to monitor manually at present the meter readings each day...After just a few days monitoring that our electric consumption overnight seems a little odd, an example.

The basics that are on all day everyday are:
Cooker (not in use just for timer etc.), Microwave (clock), Router, 2 phones, 2 alarm clocks, Fridge (no freezer compartment) and freezer.

No heating on as yet(solid fuel, electric pumped radiators).

Tuesday morning the readings at 7:30am were: 69941, 96429

No one was in the house after 8.30am - 1pm. Kettle had been on once and telly from for half hour before leaving. The desktop computer was left on without monitor. At 1pm when I got home I checked the meter reading which were the same.

During the rest of the day (to 10.30pm) telly was on approx 6 hrs, immersion 1hr, cooker 1hr, and kettle switch on 4 or 5 times and computer also dishwasher on 30mins cycle. We checked meter which had risen to. 69941, 96437 therefore 8 kwh used. Overnight just the basics on again with the immersion on for half an hour, and shower for 10mins max first thing.

Readings Wed 7.30am were 69942, 96438 so 2kw used over night (9hrs).

Again basics on and computer, however Mum was home during the day and did 2 loads of washing, and used the tumble dryer for approx 3hrs, kettle would have gone on 5 or six times, telly on from about 12noon, and cooker and hob both on, immersion on for 1hr again dishwasher approx half an hour. The readings at 10.30pm showed we had used a whopping 15kwh during the day which we expected due to the use of the tumble dryer mainly (once a week usage).

However the odd bit comes Thursday morning...readings 69948, 96453 which shows we used 22kw so overnight with just the basics (plus 10 min shower and half hour immersion) on we've used 7kw????

This just can't be right can it? The only suspect other than the immersion we could have is the freezer, but surely this would be happening all day not just overnight if there was a problem. We've been all through the house checking the dial speed on the meter for each individual item as it's switched on but can't find any 'culprits'. Even when the freezer kicks in it doesn't speed up to any major degree.

I've ordered an OWL electric monitor which will be interesting to monitor, and we intend to buy today a rapitest electric test meter to check all the appliances to rule those out. However it still seems odd that the night figure should spike so highly when just the basics are on especially when in a 5hr period the previous day it didn't even click over 1 kw.

Would you recommend we ring EON and ask for the meter to be checked? It's pretty old I don't think it's been looked at other than for readings in numerous years. The meter is inside the house so could not have been tampered with, but we are wondering if the calibration has gone awry. We are pretty sure it's not outside interference (neighbours, street lights).

Any comments, thoughts would be appreciated.

HappyMJ

You must use the immersion only at night. It will make a big saving. Don't use the dryer as much. Hang stuff outside or on a clothes rail. Use the washing machine at night hang it out in the morning and bring it in in the evening and iron them dry if needed and/or put just a few items into the dryer that aren't quite dry yet.

nellywelly

The problem is our habits have not changed at all from one quarter to the next, and in fact over summer the tumble dryer gets used once in a blue moon. Yet during the summer quarter EON have told us we are using 1000kw more for the 3 month period. Our meter is telling us we are using 7Kw during a time frame when hardly anything is on in the house... in a five hour period during the day with the same appliances on plus a computer as extra the meter tells us we've used less than 1 kw which doesn't make sense. Yes the tariff might change but the surely the amout of energy flowing through appliances shouldn't!

Our tariff is based on first units used, so it's it's the amount of kws used total that's causing the concern.

Just to mention we have solid fuel heating which heats our water, meaning we don't use the immersion for 5 months of the year.

macman

When the immersion is switched on will make no difference, as the OP is not (from what I can deduce) on an E7 meter.
The length of time it is switched on for will obviously make a difference.

irnbru_2

nellywelly wrote: »

Our tariff is based on first units used, so it's it's the amount of kws used total that's causing the concern.

What timer switch is being used: 24hr or 7-day ?

nellywelly

irnbru wrote: »

What timer switch is being used: 24hr or 7-day ?

In the Meter? It's on a 24hr.

irnbru_2

nellywelly wrote: »

In the Meter? It's on a 24hr.

nellywelly wrote: »

it was always on a timer anyway so was never on for more that 1.5hrs max each day

What type of timer is on the immersion heater: 24hr or 7-day?

nellywelly

The immersion is plugged in via socket, it's not wired into the mains. The timer is a standard plug in 24hr timer. In the past couple of weeks we've had the immersion replaced by a plumber and an electrician has also replaced the socket and checked over the wiring to the immersion and all is apparently fine. We had theories about whether the wall timer was actually cutting out, but came to the conclusion that if this was the case the immersion would have been on and off during the day too. Although we have removed the timer for the meantime, we are pretty sure it's not the problem.

Just seems very strange to me that I've been off work today and in a 7 hour period during the day I've done hoovering, had the radio on and computer, the telly on for an hour had the kettle on etc and have used just under 2kw, yet at night when all that is switched off we use 7kw.

Hopefully when we get the monitor we will be able to discover the problem.

macman

Turn each circuit off overnight to try and narrow it down. Fridge/freezer should be OK if not opened.
Isn't an immersion wired into a 13A plug and socket less than ideal? A 3kw immersion heater will be drawing around almost 13A, right on the limit, if that is it's rating.

E.ON_Company_Rep_Chris

Hi nellywelly

I hope I can help a little with this one, here’s how I see it

The readings you’ve given in your post show use of 10kWh on Tuesday and 21kWh on Wednesday.

They also show that it is an Economy 7 meter and that the lower of the two readings is the night rate. We refer to this on your bills as the low register (L). The day rate is known as normal (N).

The meter has a built in timeswitch that changes from one register to another, this is usually around midnight but can vary depending on where you live and the type of meter. It switches back to the day register at seven in the morning.

If you give us a call we can check the exact switching times of your meter. If they’re on Economy 7 prices, they’re probably not using enough at night for this to be of benefit to them so get us to check the tariff too.

Your readings show that 9kWh were used all day on Tuesday and 1kWh overnight. 15 kWh were used all day on Wednesday and 6kWh overnight.

Tuesday AM L: 69941 N: 96429
Wednesday AM L: 69942 N: 96438
Thursday AM L: 69948 N: 96453

The 6kWh extra day use on Wednesday seems to be covered by your Mum being busy at home all day with the housework . Tumble Driers use around 2.5kWh of electricity on an average 1 hour cycle.

I can’t see anything obvious in your post that accounts for the 5kWh extra night use. Rather than 6kWh overnight being high I would say that 1kWh is very low, the fridge/freezer alone would use this.

One thing could be that if Thursday’s morning shower was before 7am, then it’s probably gone on the night register for Wednesday. A single 10 minute shower can use anything from 1-2kWh depending on the power rating.

It’s highly unlikely to be a meter fault so try not to worry too much. You’re definitely on the right track looking at what’s on when and then taking regular meter readings.

Best thing to do is carry on reading the meter twice a day for a week, morning and evening, preferably at the same times every day. Make a note of the readings and any appliances in use. Then give us a call and ask to speak to one of our consumption specialists, they’ll go through the data you have and should certainly get to the bottom of it for you.

There’s also some information on our website about how much electricity appliances use an hour that might help.

Amanda

nellywelly

E.ON_Company_Rep_Amanda wrote: »

Best thing to do is carry on reading the meter twice a day for a week, morning and evening, preferably at the same times every day. Make a note of the readings and any appliances in use. Then give us a call and ask to speak to one of our consumption specialists, they’ll go through the data you have and should certainly get to the bottom of it for you.

Thanks for the info Amanda, this is what we have discussed and intend to do.

If it's chilly like it was today here I have a feeling the solid fuel fire will be lit tomorrow so no need for the immersion either, so it will also confirm whether or not it really has been the culprit.